Probably would have made more sense if it was a fellow young orc talking to Saurfang instead of a Troll. The imagery of the young orc next to the old Orc could have been a nice foil. A reminder of his past self.

A young orc would have really struck home with that whole remembering his son deal. Seeing a young orc standing before him facing war and the promise of death. Oh, what Saurfang would have felt if right before a major battle a young orc, little different from his own son, confided to him his fears of dying. Imagine the heart ache.

But Zappyboi is meme magic and was just as good if not better for the role. The community certainly got a kick out of it looking like/being Zappyboi.

I beg to differ though, like what u said, it is easy for an old orc to get the feels from a young orc, but Zappyboi and Saurfang represent exactly what the Horde represents: a faction made up of broken fragments of races trying to live out in a world against them. This, then truly struck home for those of us who plays and identify with the Horde.

The mix of the young troll and old orc was refreshing and yet brings out the nostalgic feel of the Horde. The connection between these two strangers is exactly this, they both understand what it feels like to be part of the broken and this common understanding of the Horde bond is what brought Saurfang out of that 'suicide' moment.

I love the choice Blizzard made to cast Zappyboi, not just because he was popular already, but because of this Horde feels. and I'm casting a vote for Blizzard intending to have Zappyboi in the first place, which is why they placed him so prominently in the original cinematic trailer to have us like him first, and fall in love with him later.

Did you all write the script after Zappyboi became a beloved meme? Or was this just a hilariously awesome coincidence?

I think they've said they do things like a year or two in advance for the expansions, so I think it's just a glorious coincidence.

Who knows, though. Their cinematics department could be getting so good at this, they don't need a ton of time anymore to put these together allowing them to capitalize on audience reaction. /shrug

Either way, this cinematic was amazing. I hope this puts a lot of horde players' minds at ease after the Sylvanas video. Blizzard has more in store for us.

So for a serious answer, no. I don't think anyone expected the Zappi Boi thing. In fact when we told people that Zappi Boi posts were the new hotness right after the announcement they were a little confused, "Zappi what?, really?, alright then why not?" I believe was the first response. Nobody expected him to be named that's for sure.

This game has had so many weird memed things before we even used "meme" as a word in this way, so nobody didn't not get it at least. As for the timeline, yes the Saurfang cinematic was being created before you guys ever saw the Battle for Lordaeron cinematic, so we truly had no way to predict it. Just luck? If you want to call it that.

I won't tell you who said it internally but someone in leadership at some point did say "Let the Zappi boi memes flow"

I'm leveling a horde troll shaman...actually one of if not the first horde characters I ever made, though I haven't played him in years...as elemental, and the damage is ok. It isn't good. I have a ret paladin, and the damage seems much stronger. Damage on this guy doesn't feel good either. Any chance you guys could take a look at a numbers hotfix for ele before 8.1?

I love that there's an ele shaman in cinematic, but it's also nice to feel good in game...

As for the timeline, yes the Saurfang cinematic was being created before you guys ever saw the Battle for Lordaeron cinematic, so we truly had no way to predict it. Just luck? If you want to call it that.

Jesus Christ.

Talk about your strokes of amazingly good luck.

We fall for a random character in the launch cinematic who just happens to be expanded upon greatly in another cinematic.

A cynical man couldn't believe that kind of luck, but I can't see why you guys would lie about it.

Hell, lying would actually make you look better. "Yes! We listened and gave you Zappyboi!"

As for the timeline, yes the Saurfang cinematic was being created before you guys ever saw the Battle for Lordaeron cinematic, so we truly had no way to predict it. Just luck? If you want to call it that.

Jesus Christ.

Talk about your strokes of amazingly good luck.

We fall for a random character in the launch cinematic who just happens to be expanded upon greatly in another cinematic.

A cynical man couldn't believe that kind of luck, but I can't see why you guys would lie about it.

Hell, lying would actually make you look better. "Yes! We listened and gave you Zappyboi!"

Admitting that it's just pure damned luck is...astounding.

Not luck. Its destiny! Zappyboi is preordained to become a major character from here on out. The universe is speaking to us.

I think they've said they do things like a year or two in advance for the expansions, so I think it's just a glorious coincidence.

Who knows, though. Their cinematics department could be getting so good at this, they don't need a ton of time anymore to put these together allowing them to capitalize on audience reaction. /shrug

Either way, this cinematic was amazing. I hope this puts a lot of horde players' minds at ease after the Sylvanas video. Blizzard has more in store for us.

So for a serious answer, no. I don't think anyone expected the Zappi Boi thing. In fact when we told people that Zappi Boi posts were the new hotness right after the announcement they were a little confused, "Zappi what?, really?, alright then why not?" I believe was the first response. Nobody expected him to be named that's for sure.

This game has had so many weird memed things before we even used "meme" as a word in this way, so nobody didn't not get it at least. As for the timeline, yes the Saurfang cinematic was being created before you guys ever saw the Battle for Lordaeron cinematic, so we truly had no way to predict it. Just luck? If you want to call it that.

There is no luck when it comes to Zappy Boi. This was obviously the hand of destiny. It moved Blizzard to place Zappy Boi in front of us, because Zappy was destined to be our good Boi!